Senate Republicans have spent most of the summer so far being mad about a United Nations treaty that was first released for ratification in 1982. Which, amazingly, you probably don’t find all that surprising. Click to embiggen. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia.) The hilariously retro-sounding “Law of the Sea ” treaty (LOST) went into effect in 1994, without the U.S. on board. Its intent is to establish more stringent standards around nations’ oceanic jurisdiction: how far out into the sea counts as a nation’s territory, for example, or the limits to a country’s exclusive economic zone. The most controversial aspect from the United States’ perspective is a proposal that would subject the mining of the seabed outside of a country’s exclusive control to distribution of royalties. That’s part of why the right takes issue with it — the gotfersaken Yoo-nited Nations tryin’ to tell u...